Here’s the rest of the story that we broke yesterday. WARNING: if you’re a Salisbury resident or taxpayer, take a deep breath before proceeding.
At the City Council on Monday, Mayor Ireton will ask that funds for attorney’s fees and costs of the City’s lawsuit about the wastewater treatment plant be increased by $667,500 (yes, that’s correct) in this year’s budget. The estimate that he made in his budget proposal “will not be sufficient” by at least that amount.
Because the trial won’t occur until the next fiscal year, in November, there will even more funding for the lawsuit – probably at least that much – in the next budget if the case is not settled before then. As we predicted early on, this case could make Mr. Wilber a millionaire, even if the fees he got for negotiating the contract are not included.
This matter is rapidly spinning out of the City’s control as the legal fees and costs skyrocket, as they will continue to do now that the City has found it necessary to retain a Baltimore law firm to represent it along with Mr. Wilber. The engineering firm that the City has sued recently filed a suit against the City under the Public Information Act for disclosure of its internal dealings and also has filed a complaint against the City for violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Looks like the All-American City is about to get its clock cleaned . . . again!
30 comments:
Hey Jimmy boy, when you told everyone before the election that you were going to clean house, I thought you meant administrators, not clean the house of taxpayers! I'm outta here even if it means some loss!
Even if I sold my house at a slight loss, the direction this city is going over the long term I will probably be saving money.
Ireton is in so far over his head, his shoulders are up Wilbers butt.
Another Christman gift from Barrie Tilghman and the "dream team" (Dunn, Cathcart & Comegys).
Is there any spreadsheet itemization of that huge request for legal fees, And what about an evaluation of the potential and the likely recovery bt the City, if any, in the law case against the engineer firm?
This is the way Barrie Tilghman used to do things without any transparency. Ireton said he would change that ("help is on the way") but it's the same old, same old.
And he said he would can Wilber, but has now given him a huge bonus.
As is this case in every aspect of our lives--personal, professional, medical issues, property issues, not to mention POLITICAL issues--the winner is ALWAYS the lawyers!! Lawyers have complete control over us.
Jim Ireton needs to go and take his appointed Department heads with him. Simpson and Gardener have cost this city millions of dollars.
This is unrelated Joe but I was wondering if you heard anything about an accident in Mardela Friday evening, 12/09.
I've been looking all over and I can't find anything. But I bet you could. :)
Perhaps the City needs a litagation fund to sue Wilber for malpractice
Get him out of the school system as well. He is a piss poor educator and we can't stand him either either.
Looks like this lawyer should do this at no charge..he is the one who was suppose to over see when the contract was signed. We need a new attorney.
I guess he will get this check before we get a new attorney. This is the last piece of money given to him.
Wiber is costing the city so much money it would be cheaper to hire a full time city attorney and send Wilber packing.
The City should make Wilber and the Boyz from Baltimore put this on a contingent fee so that they only get paid if the City recovers some money.
I can categorically tell you that the City of Salisbury will never recover any of the legal fees incurred as a result of this litigation - win or lose.
Having previously researched almost every MD Circuit Court construction civil case and Appellate case reports, in virtually all of these cases - the Plaintiff hardly ever recoups any of the expended legal fees.
Bottom line - get out of Salisbury because it is a bottomless pit - full of vipers.
And yes - someone should investigate the City Attorney ASAP for possible sanctions.
The attorney for the City at the time of contract approval is normally only responsible for legal sufficiency of the document within state and lender's requirements. The selection of engineer, construction companies and the details of those contracts are approved by the city legislators with recommendations from staff and mayor at the time of approval.
Anonymous said...
Wiber is costing the city so much money it would be cheaper to hire a full time city attorney and send Wilber packing.
December 10, 2011 5:12 PM
BINGO!!!
I have been saying this since the days of DingleBarrie!!
Hire a bankruptcy attorney, dump the bonds, liquidate the city and merge what's left with the county
And remember folks keep paying your city taxes... Corruption is very, very expensive.
Anonymous said...
Hire a bankruptcy attorney, dump the bonds, liquidate the city and merge what's left with the county
December 10, 2011 7:42 PM
I agree!
Jim Ireton shows his ineptness by keeping the inept Jeff Simpson on the payroll. This guy DUPED Jim Ireton and the city council could someone please find out what Simpson has on Ireton? The corruption in this city continues to get worse.
Here we go again -- remember the Salisbury Mall suit and the one when a landlord without an attorney beat the City (and Wilber) in court.
The damn taxpayers ought to band together and sue the damn city for malfeasance of our money.
Get rid of Jim Ireton, Paul Wilbur and Jeff Simpson NOW!!
7:02, you are so right. Mr. Wilber is doing what he's being instructed to do. Now that the city council is in charge of the city attorney's office, lets sit back and see what happens....
To 7:42 & 9:26
And the sooner the City of Salisbury files for bankruptcy - the better. Municipalities all across the country are now filing bankruptcy in record numbers.
It sounds just like Jefferson County, Alabama whereby their sewer system cost ran out of control. If I'm not mistaken - SBYnews published this event just a few weeks ago:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-09/alabama-s-jefferson-county-files-for-u-s-s-biggest-municipal-bankruptcy.html
Joe here is an article from a high school newspaper that shows the lack of true experience Jeff Simpson has running a fire department. He was working at a high school in Virginia for about 6 months before Ireton gave him the job as top firefighter for Salisbury. It clearly states he wasn't a career chief. It clearly shows he was an employee in a high school and not a fire department. It clearly shows he has no experience running a fire department. He clearly shows he is a job hopper without a strong and stable work history. It clearly shows the students and teachers of this high school how they don't know this guy and they were duped also. It's obvious Jim Ireton either ignored or didn't complete a background check on this guy. This guy is a fraud and Jim Ireton needs to be ran out of office for hiring this fake.
http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/1463/articleid/354617/newspaperid/1439/NEW_CHIEF__WALKS_HANOVER_HALLS.aspx
NEW “CHIEF” WALKS HANOVER HALLS
4/21/2010 12:34:51 PM
By VICTORIA CARPENTER
Students may have heard some rampant rumors about the newest addition to the Hanover High School staff. Some say he was once a UFC champion, others say he was a WWE wrestler, while still more prefer to say that he was a fighter pilot.
The real story, however, is far more impressive than any of these fictions. Jeff Simpson joined the staff on Feb. 26, 2010, as the new networking teacher, and quickly established his admirable reputation.
Simpson not only gained the trust and adoration of his students almost immediately, but he also became involved with school activities as the assistant Junior Varsity baseball coach. Beyond the school walls, Simpson is a Battalion Chief with the local Hanover Fire Department, where he is in charge of the training and safety department. His work with the Fire Department has earned him his now popular nickname, "Chief."
"He’s the man!" junior Daughtry Taylor said.
Chief has been a part of the technology profession for 25 years. Before coming to Hanover, he worked with Fortune 300, a global technology company. While working for Fortune 300, Chief had the opportunity to travel around the world and teach international students.
At Hanover, Chief teaches Networking I and II classes, Home Integration, and Computer Hardware Repair. He believes this job is a good fit for him.
"One of my passions is teaching. I love to see students learning material and then putting it to practice [in] real world applications," Chief said.
He uses a unique teaching approach of applying technology curriculum to real life experiences. For example, one of the networking solution projects was to integrate HGTV into the classroom network. Another project incorporated radio frequency identification (RFIE) technology into designing a system to improve the ordering efficiency in the school cafeteria.
"I like how he brings real world examples to class," junior John Bradley said.
Chief’s students also like how he allows them to participate in constructing the curriculum of the classes. One day, Chief let them create their own quizzes and then switch to test each other. The reward for good quiz grades: Friday free time.
Networking students are very fond of their new networking technology teacher. Junior Zack Attkisson said, "He brings something extra to the class," to which Bradley added, "A fire ax." Even Chief laughs at the jokes made at his own expense.
Chief has had no problem adapting to his new surroundings. He is a well-liked teacher, a baseball coach and he is still involved in the community.
Chief said, "In one week’s time, I’ve entrenched in the Hanover High School culture," becoming not only a part of the culture here, but an epitome of it.
9:18, if 7:02 is right, then the attorney answering to the council instead of the mayor is irrelevant to the mess that Barrie Tilghman and her Dream Team (aka Mike Dunn, Gary Comegys, Lynn Cathcart) + 1 (Shanie Shields) got this city into.
The only thing I can imagine it making a difference for is the council members maybe (a big maybe) won't be kept ignorant of what's going on.
12:09 PM that says a lot about Simpson. The city has definitely been lied to from the Mayor and Council. We deserve better. It's time to clean house.
I do not understand why - time and time again - the City and County go out of town and hire outsiders.
There are ample qualified firemen that could have filled the shoes of Fire Chief for the inner ranks.
Beats me as to how this incompetent individual could have hoodwinked our City Council & Mayor for this key position. Then again - its Salisbury - the king of the Wicomico River polluters.
Thia adds fuel to the fire about the city council being able to question the city attorney, he's totally incompedent and needs complete oversight. His decsions always benefit him in some way.
There's the door Paul! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
With the added pending litigations that are still confidential, at least the city council will be in the loop in the future, proving to Laura Mitchell that passing that charter change was urgent. The dumb cluck!
Petition THIS, Laura Mitchell the wicked witch of Moss Hill slum town. She's just another slum dog millionaire.
Joe,
When you get some free time December 11, 2011 12:09 PM should be a Comment Worthy of a Post.
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